Tafseer of The Cow · Al-Baqara · 2:273
[Charity is] for the poor who have been restricted for the cause of Allah, unable to move about in the land. An ignorant [person] would think them self-sufficient because of their restraint, but you will know them by their [characteristic] sign. They do not ask people persistently [or at all]. And whatever you spend of good - indeed, Allah is Knowing of it.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The word concerning the explanation of His statement: لِلْفُقَرَاءِ الَّذِينَ أُحْصِرُوا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ لا يَسْتَطِيعُونَ ضَرْبًا فِي الأَرْضِ يَحْسَبُهُمُ الْجَاهِلُ أَغْنِيَاءَ مِنَ التَّعَفُّفِ تَعْرِفُهُمْ بِسِيمَاهُمْ لا يَسْأَلُونَ النَّاسَ إِلْحَافًا وَمَا تُنْفِقُوا مِنْ خَيْرٍ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ بِهِ عَلِيمٌ (2:273)
(For the poor who are restricted in the path of Allah and are unable to travel about the land. The ignorant one thinks they are rich because of their restraint. You recognize them by their mark: they do not beg from people with insistence. And whatever good you spend, indeed, Allah knows of it.)
Abū Jaʿfar said: As for His statement: "for the poor who are restricted in the path of Allah," this is a declaration by Allah, Mighty and Exalted is He, concerning the recipient of the spending and its direction. The meaning of the statement is: and whatever good you spend, you spend it for your own selves, for the poor who are restricted in the path of Allah.
The "lām" that is in "al-fuqarāʾ" (the poor) is connected back to the place of the "lām" in "fa-li-anfusikum" (then for your own selves), as though He said: "and whatever good you spend" — by which He means: and whatever wealth you give as charity, that is for the poor who are restricted in the path of Allah. Now when there occurred in the statement an interpolation by His statement "fa-li-anfusikum," in which He inserted the "fāʾ" that constitutes the answer to the condition, the repetition of it in His statement "li-l-fuqarāʾ" was omitted, since the meaning of the statement was understood. As:
6211 — Mūsā related to me, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, concerning His statement: لَيْسَ عَلَيْكَ هُدَاهُمْ وَلَكِنَّ اللَّهَ يَهْدِي مَنْ يَشَاءُ وَمَا تُنْفِقُوا مِنْ خَيْرٍ فَلأَنْفُسِكُمْ (It is not for you to guide them, but Allah guides whom He wills, and whatever good you spend, that is for your own selves): as for "it is not for you to guide them," by it He means the polytheists (mushrikīn). And as for "the spending," of it He made clear its recipients, and He said: "for the poor who are restricted in the path of Allah."
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And it has been said: these poor whom Allah mentions in this verse are the poor among the emigrants (muhājirūn) in general, and no one else among the poor.
Mention of who said that:
6212 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His statement: "for the poor who are restricted in the path of Allah": the emigrants of Quraysh in Medina, with the Prophet ﷺ; He commanded that charity be given to them.
6213 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, concerning His statement: "for the poor who are restricted in the path of Allah," the verse; he said: they are the poor among the emigrants in Medina.
6214 — Mūsā related to me, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "for the poor who are restricted in the path of Allah," he said: the poor among the emigrants.
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The word concerning the explanation of His statement, Mighty and Exalted is He: الَّذِينَ أُحْصِرُوا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ (who are restricted in the path of Allah)
Abū Jaʿfar said: He, Exalted is His mention, means by it: those who, through their struggle (jihād) against their enemy, restricted themselves, so that they held themselves back from acquiring a livelihood and were unable to pursue a means of earning.
* * *
And we have already demonstrated earlier that the meaning of "al-iḥṣār" is: bringing the restricted man — by his illness, or his neediness, or his struggle against his enemy, or another of his impediments — to a state in which he holds himself back from pursuing his means of subsistence, with what has already been sufficiently set forth concerning that.
* * *
The people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) differed concerning the explanation of it.
Some of them said concerning it approximately the same as what we have said concerning it.
Mention of who said that:
6215 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His statement: "who are restricted in the path of Allah," he said: they held themselves fast in the path of Allah for the armed expedition (ghazw).
6216 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His statement: "for the poor who are restricted in the path of Allah," he said: the whole earth was unbelief (kufr); no one could set out to seek anything of Allah's bounty, for if he set out, he set out into the midst of unbelief. And it has been said: the whole earth was in a state of war against the people of this city, and they could not turn in any direction without having an enemy there. So Allah, Mighty and Exalted is He, said: "for the poor who are restricted in the path of Allah," the verse; they were here in the path of Allah.
* * *
Others said: The meaning of it is rather: those whom the polytheists (mushrikīn) restricted and whom they prevented from acquiring a livelihood.
Mention of who said that:
6217 — Mūsā ibn Hārūn related to me, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "for the poor who are restricted in the path of Allah," the polytheists restricted them in Medina.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: Were the interpretation of the verse as al-Suddī interpreted it, then the statement would read: "for the poor who were restricted (ḥuṣirū) in the path of Allah," but it reads "uḥṣirū" (have been brought to restriction). That indicates that it was their fear of the enemy that brought these poor to the state in which they — while they were in the path of Allah — held themselves back, and not that the enemy were the ones who held them back.
For concerning the one whom the enemy has held back, one says: "the enemy restricted him (ḥaṣara-hu)," but when the man is held back out of fear of the enemy, one says: "fear of the enemy brought him to restriction (aḥṣara-hu)."
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The word concerning the explanation of His statement: لا يَسْتَطِيعُونَ ضَرْبًا فِي الأَرْضِ (they are unable to travel about the land)
Abū Jaʿfar said: He, Exalted is His praise, means by it: they are unable to move about the earth, nor to travel through the lands, seeking a livelihood and pursuing earnings, so that they might make themselves independent of charity — out of dread of the enemy and out of fear for their lives at their hands. As:
6218 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to me, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda: "they are unable to travel about the land": they held themselves fast in the path of Allah because of the enemy, and so they were unable to engage in trade.
6219 — Mūsā related to me, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "they are unable to travel about the land," he means trade.
6220 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His statement: "they are unable to travel about the land": none of them was able to set out to seek anything of Allah's bounty.
* * *
The word concerning the explanation of His statement: يَحْسَبُهُمُ الْجَاهِلُ أَغْنِيَاءَ مِنَ التَّعَفُّفِ (the ignorant one thinks they are rich because of their restraint)
Abū Jaʿfar said: He means by it: "the ignorant one thinks" — whoever is ignorant of their situation and their condition — "that they are rich" because of their restraint regarding begging and their abstaining from imposing themselves upon what people possess, out of patiently enduring adversity and deprivation. As:
6221 — Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His statement: "the ignorant one thinks they are rich," he says: whoever is ignorant of their situation thinks that they are rich because of their restraint.
* * *
And by His statement "because of the restraint (al-taʿaffuf)" He means: because of the refraining from begging people.
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It is the "tafaʿʿul" form of "al-ʿiffa" (abstention) regarding a thing, and abstention regarding a thing is the refraining from it, as Ruʾba said:
* "Thus he abstained from her secrets after the time of intermingling" *
He means: he kept himself free of it and avoided it.
* * *
The word concerning the explanation of His statement: تَعْرِفُهُمْ بِسِيمَاهُمْ (you recognize them by their mark)
Abū Jaʿfar said: He, Exalted is His praise, means by it: "you recognize them," O Muḥammad, "by their mark (sīmā)," that is, by their sign and their marks, derived from the statement of Allah, Mighty and Exalted is He: سِيمَاهُمْ فِي وُجُوهِهِمْ مِنْ أَثَرِ السُّجُودِ [Surah al-Fatḥ: 48:29] (their mark is upon their faces from the effect of prostration). This is the dialect of Quraysh. Among the Arabs there are those who say "bi-sīmāʾihim," lengthening it.
As for the Thaqīf and a portion of the Asad, they say "bi-sīmiyāʾihim"; to that belongs the statement of the poet:
A youth whom Allah, when he grew up, endowed with beauty; he has an outward sign (sīmiyāʾ) that does not pain the eye.
* * *
The interpreters differed concerning the "mark (sīmā)" of which Allah, Exalted is His praise, informed that it belongs to these poor whose qualities He described, and by which they are recognized.
Some of them said: it is the humility and the lowliness.
Mention of who said that:
6222 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, on the authority of ʿĪsā, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His statement: "you recognize them by their mark," he said: the humility.
6223 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, the same.
6224 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Layth, he said: Mujāhid used to say: it is the humility.
* * *
Others said: He means by it: you recognize them by the mark of poverty and the heaviness of neediness upon their faces.
Mention of who said that:
6225 — Mūsā related to me, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "you recognize them by their mark," by the mark of poverty upon them.
6226 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, concerning His statement: "you recognize them by their mark," he says: you recognize upon their faces the heaviness of neediness.
* * *
Others said: The meaning of it is: you recognize them by the worn-out state of their clothes. And they said: hunger is hidden.
Mention of who said that:
6227 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said: "you recognize them by their mark," he said: the mark is the worn-out state of their clothes, for hunger is hidden from people, but the clothes in which they go out [could] not be hidden from people.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: The correct of the statements concerning it is that one says: Allah, Mighty and Exalted is He, informed His Prophet ﷺ that he recognizes them by their signs and the marks of neediness upon them. The Prophet ﷺ would perceive those signs and marks in them only when he beheld them with his own eyes, and then he and his companions would recognize them thereby, just as one perceives the sick person and knows that he is sick by seeing him.
And it is possible that that mark was a humility of theirs, and possible that it was the mark of neediness and deprivation, and possible that it was the worn-out state of the clothes, and possible that it was all of this together. The signs of neediness and the marks of deprivation in a person are only perceived, and one knows that they proceed from neediness and deprivation, only by seeing him and not by description. This is because the sick person may, through his illness in some states of his illness, come into a state resembling the marks of one worn out by neediness and want, and because the wealthy person of abundant possessions may wear worn-out clothes, so that he adorns himself with the appearance of the needy. Therefore there is in none of that an indication, through the description, that the one described is broken and needy. That is only known upon beholding by his mark, as Allah described — comparable to one knowing that a person is sick only upon beholding, and not by describing him with his description.
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The word concerning the explanation of His statement: لا يَسْأَلُونَ النَّاسَ إِلْحَافًا (they do not beg from people with insistence)
Abū Jaʿfar said: One says: "the beggar has insisted (alḥafa) in his begging," when he stubbornly persists — "and he insists in it with insistence (ilḥāf)."
* * *
If someone were to say: Did these people then beg from people without insistence?
Then it is answered: It is not permissible that they begged from people anything at all by way of charity, with or without insistence, for Allah, Mighty and Exalted is He, described them as people of restraint, and that they were recognized only by their mark. Had begging been part of their nature, then their quality would not have been restraint, and the Prophet ﷺ would not have needed knowledge to recognize them by means of indications and signs, and the open begging would have betrayed their condition and their situation.
And in the report which:
6228 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of Hilāl ibn Ḥiṣn, on the authority of Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī, he said: Once we fell into neediness, and it was said to me: would that you had gone to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ to ask him! So I went to him in haste, and the first thing with which he met me was: "Whoever abstains in restraint, Allah will grant him restraint; whoever makes himself independent, Allah will make him rich; and whoever asks of us, we will withhold nothing from him of what we have." He said: Then I turned within myself and said: shall I not abstain in restraint, so that Allah may grant me restraint! So I returned, and after that I never asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ for anything in a matter of neediness, until the world poured down upon us and overwhelmed us — except whom Allah preserves.
* * *
[...] the clear indication that restraint is a meaning that excludes the meaning of begging in one and the same person, and that whoever is described with restraint cannot be described with begging, whether that be with or without insistence.
* * *
If someone were to say: If the matter is as you have described, then what is the import of His statement "they do not beg from people with insistence," while they do not beg from people at all, with or without insistence?
Then it is answered to him: The import of it is that Allah, Exalted is His mention, when He had described them with restraint and informed His servants that they are in no case people of begging, by His statement "the ignorant one thinks they are rich because of their restraint," and that they are recognized only by the mark — He added for His servants a further clarification of their situation and a fine praise upon them, by negating from them the greed and the fawning abasement that is found in the insistent beggars.
And some of the speakers said: that is comparable to the statement of one who says: "rarely have I seen anyone like so-and-so!" — while he may not have seen anyone at all who resembles him or is his equal.
* * *
And the interpreters said concerning the meaning of the insistence (ilḥāf) approximately the same as what we have said.
Mention of who said that:
6229 — Mūsā ibn Hārūn related to me, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "they do not beg from people with insistence," he said: they do not insist in begging.
6230 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His statement: "they do not beg from people with insistence," he said: that is the one who stubbornly persists in begging.
6231 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His statement: "they do not beg from people with insistence": it has been related to us that the Prophet of Allah ﷺ said: "Indeed, Allah loves the gentle, well-off, restrained person, and He detests the rich one who is shameless, obscene, and an insistent beggar." He said: And it has been related to us that the Prophet of Allah ﷺ said: Indeed, Allah, Mighty and Exalted is He, has detested for you three things: "it is said and it is said" (talk about what is not established), the squandering of wealth, and excessive begging. If you wish, you see him occupied with "it is said and it is said" his whole day and the beginning of his night, until he falls like a carcass upon his bed, without Allah having made for him in his day nor in his night a share. And if you wish, you see him a possessor of wealth [which he squanders] upon his desires, his pleasures, and his amusements, while he withholds it from the right of Allah — and that is the squandering of wealth. And if you wish, you see him stretching out both his arms, begging people with his palms; and if something is given to him, he exceeds in his praise of them, and if something is refused him, he exceeds in his slander of them.
[Here a portion falls away from the manuscript which the transmitter has dropped; the explanation of the remaining part of the verse "and whatever good you spend, indeed, Allah knows of it" is missing.]
